Abstract

A recent paper by Douglass and Knox (hereafter DK12) states that the global flux imbalance between
2002 and 2008 was approximately −0.03 ± 0.06 W/m2, from which they concluded the CO2 forcing
feedback is negative. However, DK12 only consider the ocean heat content (OHC) increase from 0 to
700 meters, neglecting the OHC increase at greater depths. Here we include OHC data to a depth of
2000 meters and demonstrate this data explains the majority of the discrepancies between DK12 and
previous works, and that the current global flux imbalance is consistent with continued anthropogenic
climate change.